Harry's Tour Diary - The Seekers' SOUTH OF THE BORDER Tour
by Movimationguy
Summary: The Seekers are going on tour of Latin America and Australasia. But what's it like for them to travel around the globe, performing at every corner, and seeing all the sights? Well, you can find out in this weekly tour diary written by none other than Harry Potter himself!
1. Dec 3, 1995

_Dec. 3,_ _1995_

Hi everyone!

Me and the boys have just begun our _South_ _of_ _the_ _Border_ _Tour_ for December 1995! This is our first tour outside of Europe and America and we're hoping to make the experience count, for both us and the fans.

What you'll be getting is a diary written by me, talking about anything interesting happening during the tour, whether it be sightseeing, media interviews, mistakes or surprises during shows, or even pranks behind the scenes.

You may be wondering why I haven't done this for the _Transatlantic_ _Tour_ last summer. Well, with so many places to visit, I really haven't found the time to write anything. This time, though, our touring schedule is much less constricting, much to the relief of many people. Namely Hermione, my mum, and Mrs. Weasley.

You could argue that the Narrator Who Shall Remain Nameless could give us more energy once we ran out of steam, but honestly, we were looking to fit in more relaxing time and more time for sightseeing.

Speaking of which, the tour actually began on Friday, December 1st, so this entry will only be about our visit to Monterrey in Mexico. That was the day of our first show, so we spent most of the day checking in to the hotel and taking a couple of hours to recuperate in the hotel pool before going to the venue to begin rehearsal. We performed a 7:00 show at the Auditorio Coca-Cola. The mention of Coca-Cola was enough to make Ron's mouth water. Ever since we introduced him to the drink, he's been mad about it, third only to Butterbeer and Pepsi. He ended up ordering several cases of it, which we had to store in an enchanted cooler that didn't require ice.

Fairly clever when you think about it.

Fred and George, on the other hand, had other ideas for the Coca-Cola. While we were on tour last summer, they discovered Pop Rocks and ordered a summer's supply of them to experiment with for the remainder of the tour. Now that they were out, they had to find some Mexican equivalent to them. Their best bet was a candy they found called Manoletas. While the rest of us weren't watching, they opened the cooler, filled each can with Manoletas and magically stalled them, so they wouldn't start fizzing yet. Afterwards, they added a special charm so that when the tab was removed, the other cans would react to the sound.

How? Well, we were in the middle of our first show and we had the whole cooler onstage in case any of us got thirsty. Ron took out the first can, snapped the lid off, and the cooler suddenly began to rumble. It rumbled so much that the cooler lid burst right off and mounds of fizz suddenly burst out of the cooler, showered the stage, and covered the whole audience.

Naturally, I think you could expect our mums and Hermione to present us with a look of disapproval, but fortunately for us, the audience seemed to enjoy it. By the time they were all covered, they were screaming like mad for us, especially all the girls in the audience.

After that incident, we made note to create t-shirts in both English and Spanish that read, _I_ _Got_ _Soaked_ _at_ _the_ _Seekers_ ' _Concert!_

Anyways, once the weekend came, we had plenty of time for sightseeing.

First, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art that they've got here and a collection of the works of Louise Bourgeois was on display. To most of us, it seemed strange that a French Artist would be on display in a Mexican museum, but then again, we're tourists. What do we know?

Outside the museum was the Macroplaza, where we saw the Faro Del Commercio, or the Lighthouse of Commerce, which didn't look so much like a lighthouse as much as a monolith. I just assumed that Ron thought it was a monolith for the Chudley Cannons, since it was orange.

We also passed the Palace of the Governor and the Fountain of Neptune. I know for most people in the Wizarding World, it looked nothing like our own merpeople or marine horses. I personally kept expecting to see the merpeople of the black Lake go to war with the Lords of the Ocean. I know that sounds like a rather out-there experience, but have a look for yourself, if you can.

Anyways, we ended our stay in Monterrey with a trip to Parque Fundidora. It was a typical park, but it was a good way to get some fresh air in before we went off to our next tour destination.

While there, we noticed a theme park built there as well, called Parque Plaza Sesamo. It seemed clear to us that this was a theme park for the Mexican production of _Sesame_ _Street_. We didn't go in, but here's a funny story; on our last tour, the Weasleys had discovered Sesame Street playing on one of our hotel bedroom televisions early in the morning. Ron, in particular, seemed to be amused by the Cookie Monster.

He said, "I like this guy's style! He eats almost as he as me!"

Charming for some, confusing for those who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Well, we're off to Guadalajara next.

Enjoy the Christmas hols and I'll keep them entries coming!

— _Harry_ _Potter_


	2. Dec 10, 1995

_Dec. 10,_ _1995_

¡Hola compadres!

This whole week was our tour of Latin America, which officially concludes on Monday in Buenos Aires.

The first couple of days, we were still in Mexico. We don't always have as much time for sightseeing because we have two shows every day and we have to go rehearse as soon as we're checked into the hotel. But the flight to Guadalajara was relatively short; What takes Muggles an hour and a half to fly there from Monterrey only took us 45 minutes, thanks to the special modifications my dad and godfather made to our plane. We landed there on Sunday night and went straight to bed so we could get up early to squeeze in some sightseeing.

We spent most of the morning at the San Juan de Dios indoor markets. We were told this was the largest indoor flea market in Latin America. There were three floors, the second of which Ron spent most of his time on; this was the food market. The main floor was souvenirs; toys, clothing, artwork, and other things. Our mums begged us to try on cowboy boots, but our first response was running away. We came to a toy stall where we saw some mini souvenir guitars in different colors. Fred, George, and I each took one in our respective guitar colors; mine in red, Fred's in magenta, George's in orange. As for Ron, he picked a tambourine hanging from the stall.

All four of us plan on playing our souvenir instruments, while I plan on displaying it in my bedroom with all the other souvenirs I pick up while touring.

That includes an alebrije I picked up from a craft stand. For those who don't know, that's a little paper-mache sculpture of a brightly-colored fantastic beast. Mine resembled a red jaguar, so I thought I'd enchant it to come to life and guard my bedroom.

Fred and George each took one resembling a monkey in magenta, and took one in red to send to Bill Weasley in Egypt. Ron, on the other hand, preferred the ones shaped like parrots. More specifically, he chose an orange one with green wings, mostly because he likes orange more than George actually does. Also, it sat on a perch, so he could hang it from the ceiling. All three of them plan on enchanting their alebrijes as well.

The next day, we arrived in Mexico City and we were given the usual welcome for whatever city we go to; we drive into town or land at the airport to find hundreds of screaming girls waiting for us and running after our limousine as aurors try to hold them back. We also noticed they were holding back reporters from another car driving right in front of us. When we arrived at the Foro Sol Arena, we found out why;

Waiting for us there was none other than the President of Magical Mexico himself, Fernando Hidalgo. He was there with his four daughters to celebrate his eldest daughter, Clarisa's quinceañera. Her birthday wish was to meet me and I guess her parents saw me as a respectable young man. This didn't go without the envy of a certain Ms. Granger, but lucky for her, it didn't change a thing between us. Besides, her other sisters wanted to meet the rest of the band, as well; Twins Inéz and Juanita, age 13, literally went head over heels at the sight of Fred and George, while Maya, age 11, wouldn't even let go of Ron's feet. Eventually, she had to let go so Hidalgo's aurors could escort us backstage.

By the time the show was over, all the kids leaving the venue saw our limousine and tried again to barrage it. They chased us all the way to the airport and I'm sure as soon as we left and they were done crying for us, they were probably wondering how they were going to get home.

After sleeping for a few hours, we landed in Caracas around midnight, where we were greeted by another barrage of fans and even a few reporters. I wasn't sure what was more surprising, that it was the fans or the reporters that were up this late.

As soon as we checked into the hotel, we collapsed on the bed save as much strength as we could from playing three days worth of shows. After waking up early and taking a short dip in the pool, we went to visit the beautiful Botanical Gardens, with all their palm trees, cacti, and even water lilies.

On days when we don't have as much time to sightsee, we try to visit places where we can get some fresh air before getting ready for shows.

On Thursday, we arrived in Rio de Janeiro where we were busy for pretty much the whole day. We had here shows, so we had no time for sightseeing and we spent the whole day rehearsing and filling interviews in. It was the same thing when we were in Mexico City.

Our policy is that every show is an hour and a quarter long and our last show of the day was always at 7:00 P.M. This allows us to finish at a decent hour so we can get back to the hotel, go straight to bed and wake up at an early enough hour the next morning.

We spent most of the day at the Metropolitan Hall, so we couldn't look longingly at the beach out the hotel window.

Friday was the day we landed in Santiago, Chile. This was a place where we could do some sightseeing after the show because we've stayed there into Saturday.

We spent most of the day near San Cristóbal Hill, where we had a view of the whole city and the rest of the day to spend in Bellavista, the bohemian city of the young people of Chile. Tonight, there was an evening craft sale for things made of this beautiful blue stone, called _lapis_ _lazuli_. Our mums ended up buying a whole cupboard's worth of plates and bowls made from it, while I decided to surprise a certain Ms. Granger with a necklace made from this stone. It made sense, seeing that blue was her favorite color.

We had dinner in town and for the both of us, it was fish tacos with chips; both kinds.

Well, tomorrow morning, we're off to Buenos Aires, where we'll have some time to sightsee before our shows on Monday.

Enjoy the hols and stay tuned for updates!

— _Harry_ _Potter_


	3. Dec 17, 1995

_December_ _17_ , _1995_

G'Day, mates!

We've just finished week three of the _South_ _of_ _the_ _Border_ _Tour_ and we're having a great time! We finished our Latin American tour last Monday in Buenos Aires and we're just about to finish our tour of Australia.

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning, so we had plenty of time to sightsee. Early in the day, we went to visit an old-fashioned ranch house and our guides took us to a nearby country town on horseback. In the middle of the day, our hosts treated us to a barbecue lunch, told us stories, and performed some rope tricks for us. Basically, this his was our introduction to the life of a gaucho, the cowboys of Argentina.

At the end of this excursion, we ended up having pictures taken of us on our horses, wearing gaucho hats that our mums bought for us, along with gaucho boots from a nearby leather and cowhide goods shop. These were pictures they insisted on using for the cover of our Argentine live album. I admit it was a little embarrassing, but more because of the way our mums gushed over it. The hats and boots we thought were okay after an excursion like that.

"I'd love to see them wear these and ride broomsticks, eh Georgie?" Fred whispered.

"Aye, Freddie," George agreed.

In the evening, we walked around town and Hermione dragged us into an old fashioned-looking building with a sign which read, _El_ _Ateneo_. Not really sure what that meant, we decided to go along with her and once we were inside, we could see why she was fussing over it so much; it was an old theater converted into a bookshop. The balconies and stage were still there, but filled with bookshelves full of books for the buying.

Hermione marveled, "Oh Harry, why can't we have the concerts here? This will give me plenty of books to browse through…"

But I had to drag her away, insisting, "Hermione, I think we'll have the concert in a place where the books are actually in English."

The next day, it was mostly get up, go exercise, and have breakfast before going off to rehearse over at the Luna Park Stadium. But not before a morning walk in the Japanese Gardens with koi ponds and plants. It seemed strange that they'd have that in Argentina, but at least it gave us some fresh air for awhile.

If any of our Australian fans are reading this, we also heard there was a Luna Park somewhere in Melbourne.

Speaking of Australia, we were off to Perth the day after. When we got there, we decided to have a dip in the ocean at Cottesloe Beach before going to rehearse. While we were swimming, we watched a number of surfers circle around us and I saw Fred and George with that look on their faces as if they had an idea.

"If only they made broomsticks that ran on water, eh Freddie?" George whispered.

"Aye, George," Fred agreed.

After hearing that, I decided to beat them to it by relaying the idea to my father and godfather.

The next day, we arrived in Brisbane. It was another one of those days where we had to arrive, check in, and go rehearse, after squeezing in a little time for sightseeing, so we headed off to the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park (Or Australia Zoo, as it will be called in the future).

While we were there, we saw another photo op for a possible album cover. We were each photographed with separate animals. Ron, naturally, was photographed holding a sleeping Koala, while Fred and George were photographed with twin Kookaburras perched on their arms and I was photographed with a kangaroo in my arms. Sirius, my godfather suggested we use this as our live album cover for the Australia tour. We agreed, only on the condition that we photograph him with a dingo (His animagus is a dog)!

This was the only place we'd get to do this because in most Australian states, it's illegal to hold animals. We could have asked the Narrator Who Shall Remain Nameless, but for some reason, he wasn't willing to take the risk for some reason.

The next day, it was off to Adelaide. Once again, we had little time to sightsee, so we thought we'd just go tandem skydiving. But obviously, our mothers said no and we were taken through another botanical garden instead.

It's pitiful that the opposite sex can assert so much control over your life sometimes, isn't it?

The day after, we landed in Melbourne. This time, we had more time to sightsee because we were staying until Saturday night. We decided to have ourselves an Australian safari to make up for our short visit to the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. We started by riding the open-air trains on the Puffing Billy Railway to get some views of the rainforests and followed that up with a visit to the Werribee Open Range Zoo, which housed mostly African wildlife, some of which shared the same wide-open enclosures.

It seemed strange that they'd have this in Australia, but then again, I've nitpicked about this sort of thing too much. Besides, our visit to the Healesville Sanctuary made up for that, giving us the chance to see more Australian native wildlife, like kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats.

We haven't had the chance to go souvenir shopping yet, but we may get the chance to when we go to Sydney tomorrow. We'll probably find slouch hats or something like that, as opposed to stuffed kangaroos or koalas. Unfortunately, I've run out of room in this entry, so I'll write about that next week.

Enjoy the hols and stay tuned for updates!

— _Harry_ _Potter_


	4. Dec 24, 1995

_Dec_. _24, 1995_

Hi mates!

If you're reading this, you can probably tell that this is the last entry in my Tour Diary for the _South_ _of_ _the_ _Border_ _Tour_. We just got back from New Zealand yesterday and we're home in Britain, just in time for Christmas Eve!

Speaking of which, you wouldn't believe how many invitations to celebrity Christmas parties we've been sent while we were down there. But if we were taught anything, it was to politely decline. After all, we were raised to believe Christmas is about family first.

I know I sound rather pompous for saying that, but it could be worse; I could be Percy Weasley rolling his eyes at us and sticking his nose in the air. Hermione, on the other hand, seemed too excited about the whole "seeing the world" prospect to care. So much that you'd think she'd forgotten all about school and instead would rather learn from experiencing the world.

It's interesting, isn't it? The girls at Hogwarts seem to prefer learning from books while the guys seem to prefer learning from experience.

Well, enough talk about school, let's talk about the last week of the tour;

On Monday, we finished our tour of Australia with three special performances in Sydney. Because of this, we had no time for sightseeing, but we were ended up in a press conference held by some particularly special guests; needless to say, they were the Australian Minister of Magic, Xavier Jones and his two daughters… and a whole gaggle of young girls that looked no older than twelve or thirteen and no younger than seven or eight. The moment they all saw us, they went for us. We tried counting them all, but there was such a blur of them, Hermione had to count them for us. In total, there appeared to be twenty-seven of these young girls, counting Jones's two daughters.

Minister Jones had to get his Aurors to settle the girls down so he could speak with us. He had some very kind things to say about us and thanked us for the joy we brought to his family, both immediate and extended. Afterwards, he presented us with some rather interesting gifts; Each of us was given a brown slouch hat with the crest of the Australian Ministry of Magic; it was two creatures resembling a kangaroo and an emu clutching a large letter "A".

Afterwards, Minister Jones reached into his pocket and pulled our four small, fuzzy little figures that seemed to be moving around as if they were alive. The one he handed to me looked like the kangaroo-type creature on the crest. It had claws on its paws, but it had a long, skinny tail, a head like an aardvark, and ears like a mouse. I was told it was wallapalooza… interesting name.

Ron was given a little figure that looked sort of like a koala. Its face, however, was sort of like a bushbaby and it had a tail like a lemur. Naturally, Ron was shocked by its incredibly large eyes and after asking, found that it was called a bushbonzer.

"He looks more creepy than sleepy, eh Ron," Fred teased.

Fred and George were given figures that resembled the emu-like creature, which really only had emu necks and bodies. In addition, they had heads like a kookaburra, and long casques on their heads like a cassowary. Fred and George were warned that these birds were called chookdookers, for their urges let out a long squawk, almost like it was mixed with the sound of a howler monkey.

This, naturally, caused all the girls to start screaming again and when we asked about them, Minister Jones explained that aside from his two daughters, all those girls were his nieces. He was one of seven children, each one of which married and had seven children of their own; all with different amounts of girls, though.

The girls tried to grab our slouch hats, but the aurors, once again, had to escort us backstage so we could get ready.

The next day, we headed off to New Zealand, where we'd have a four city tour from Auckland to Dunedin over the next four days. Once again, we were stuck visiting botanical gardens and parks, and other simple outdoor activities with so little time for sightseeing. Still, some of these parks had some things that made them worth visiting.

For example, we visited the Auckland Domain, which we were told held the whole explosion crater of the a volcano. Sadly for Fred and George, though,there wouldn't be any eruptions anytime soon.

In Wellington, we found a small fish and chips shop by the sea and saw numerous people sitting and eating with a view of the ocean. It wasn't like the fish and chips shops near the docks of Liverpool and it wasn't like the fish tacos in Bellavista, but it was the next best thing.

In Christchurch, it was another short walk through the Botanic Gardens. It wasn't much for us, but for our mums, sisters, and Hermione, it was a chance for them to enjoy the flowers. I forgot to mention Ginny Weasley and my sister, Sarah, but then again, sometimes there are too many embarrassing moments with them… sorry Ginny.

In Dunedin, our last stop on the tour, it was a short walk on the beach with a view of the islands in the distance, one of which was called the Honeymoon Island. When we heard that, I ended up having to do my best to ignore a teasing red-haired younger sister of mine, laughing hysterically behind us.

By the time our last show was over, we headed back to the airport and waved goodbye to the fans that had either followed us all the way there, or had stayed there for awhile. They were all crying their eyes out, while we all had smiles on our faces. This whole tour was great, but we were glad to be going home in time for Christmas Eve, the next day.

Well, that concludes my Tour Diary for the _South_ _of_ _the_ _Border_ _Tour_. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing and doing it. I'll be writing one for our next tour as well, so keep an eye out in the next few weeks for where we'll be going. For those of you who missed this tour, don't worry, we'll be back next year.

Well, I'm off to join my friends and family in the Christmas festivities and I hope you'll join yours.

Merry Christmas and see you later!

— _Harry_ _Potter_


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